2004 TRENCHES PF 5E, 10, & 15 Katherine Blanchard, Field Supervisor Laura Crowley, Assistant Field Supervisor Week 6: Field Students: Abby Christofferson Sanda Heinz Andrew McClellan Volunteer: Lynn Makowsky Left to right: Laura Crowley, Abby Christofferson, Sanda Heinz, Andrew McClellan, Katy Blanchard, and Lynn Makowsky. As of the writing of this report we have one final day to excavate. Tomorrow we will remove the last of the rubble around the edge of Feature 2, the area which yielded the vessels that were finally excavated this week. I feel happy with the amount of excavation that occurred these past weeks--I feel as if we are at a good stopping point and look forward to next years answers (hopefully) that this year's finds posed. First amongst these: is this wall indeed a terracing wall or is it the wall of an additional room, meaning that we have interior and not exterior space. As of this moment? I strongly believe it's a terracing wall due to the fact that our wall abuts and doesn't intersect and that it is a different size. Perhaps tomorrow's definition and cleaning will change my mind. That, to me, is the wonder of excavation-the theories change moment by moment as well as year by year. PF 15 Feature 2 in context as seen from the east. See series of related photos at the bottom of this page.   Abutting walls in Trench PF 15. This last week saw the finishing of a few passes: Andrew dutifully scarped and picked through sandstone further defining the exterior section of our wall. Abby, Sanda, and Laura all cleared the last of a pass in PF 5E by the intersection of our wall to the structure. Here, they found 3 new circular carbon features (these are likely to be post holes). They arrived at the same height as the four that we block lifted this week. We save these as they are possible sources for later carbon dating. For every so many samples you often only get one good reading, so the more we save, the more likely we are to get a date for our post holes. Lynn finished the pass in PF 15 up to the wall in the SE corner. And all this time we painstakingly removed the vessels from within the feature. Postholes in Trench PF 5E plastered for block lifting.   Postholes in Trench PF 5E and 5E/15 scarp. The students rotated through this feature with me, so that everyone got an opportunity to work on the extraction of these pieces we had seen for so many weeks now. Abby lifted a beautiful rim that when it was pulled, we saw that there was a series of three incised lines on the body of the vessel. Another body fragment was found in the area in which Laura was working. Another vase-shaped vessel also had three incised lines. Today, a bowl came out with three lines as well. We jokingly liken this pattern to a modern day china pattern-these vessels appear to match. Andrew extracted both our full length cover tile and our full width pan tile. Sanda pulled out another rim that has been visible for weeks. Lynn Makowsky and Katy Blanchard excavating large finds from Feature 2.   Laura Crowley and Lynn Makowsky excavating around Feature 2 while Andrew McClellan refines the scarp.   Katy Blanchard's crew working around Feature 2 in Trench PF 15. Our vessel that we have colloquially called a bird bath contained not only three rims of other vessels of significant size, but a full fine ware bowl. After two days of excavation, the birdbath was extracted by Lynn, Laura and myself. We also removed the visible pipe fragment and the section above it which appeared to join with it. As of yesterday afternoon we realized that this latter piece was not a pipe but rather a stand of some sort. That is, our pipe system was not a pipe system but rather fragments of large vessels. The fineware "birdbath" as well as this latter pipe section were both Etruscan banqueting vessels. The large vessel nicknamed "The Birdbath" ready for lifting from Feature 2. See series of related photos at the bottom of this page. What does this mean for our small section of the FOD? I have not yet had the time to sit and reflect fully on the floor level and the banqueting vessels and the tile that seems to extend through both time frames. Perhaps it means that it is the same time frame. The post holes still don't appear in any sort of pattern. The rubble still covers lower stones. The heat-related anomaly still runs into the scarp and has no identifiable shape. The wall at the very corner appears to only have one coursing. And so as of right now, I do not know what this all means for our small section of the FOD. I only know that there is a lot of thinking left to be done this next week. Abby Christofferson excavating west of Feature 2 in PF 15.   Fineware bowl found in Trench PF 15 next to wall (above) and with contents (below).   Conserved bowl and the soil it covered from Trench PF 15.   Head Conservator Chris White advises Katy Blanchard on excavation of Feature 2.   PF 15 Feature 2 in context from the east.   PF 15 Feature 2 in context from the south.     Feature 2 in Trench PF 15.   Feature 2 from the south.   Katy Blanchard definining elements in Feature 2.   Below, a series of three details of Feature 2 under excavation:       Katy Blanchard and Abby Christofferson triangulate the points locating finds in PF 15 Feature 2.   Sanda Heinz records Featuye 2 triangulation points taken by (left to right) Lynn Makowsky, Laura Crowley, Andrew McClellan, Katy Blanchard, and Abby Christofferson.   Left: Sanda Heinz records points in the field notebook. Right: Laura Crowley triangulates points.   The FOD celebrates Super Hero Day.   Abby Christofferson.   Andrew McClellan shows his back. Left to right in front: Laura Crowley, Abby Christofferson, Sanda Heinz, Katy Blanchard, and Lynn Makowsky.   Lynn Makowsky on Super Hero Day.   The Mysterious Katy Blanchard.     Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 - Final Report Director, Gregory Warden gwarden@mail.smu.edu Director, Michael Thomas michael.thomas@tufts.edu While the team is in Italy during the summer field season, send e-mail to: mvap3@dada.it To email an individual on the team, enter the person's last name in the subject heading. Excavation house phone: 055-844-9834, or, when calling from the US: 011-39-55-844-9834. 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